It is the season of musical chairs. The top jobs of Bank of England governor and BBC director-general may have already been filled by Mark Carney and Lord [Tony] Hall respectively but there are still four plum posts up for grabs in London: the editorship of The Times; the CEO of the Royal Opera House; Prince Charles’s communications secretary at Clarence House and the American ambassadorship to London. And once those vacancies are filled there will be more jobs free further down the food chain. Welcome to the elite merry-go-round world of job swaps.

TIMES EDITOR

First up is the editorship of The Thunderer, which James Harding vacated this week after five years in the post. Who will take over the newspaper founded in 1785, which has one of the strongest brands in the world and a distinguished roll call of former editors including Simon Jenkins and Harold Evans?

So far the main name in the frame is John Witherow, Sunday Times editor, which, if true, would corroborate speculation that a merger between the Sunday Times and its daily stablemate may be on the cards. But there will be much jostling among junior executives who think they merit consideration. And isn’t it high time The Times had its first female editor in 227 years? Watch out for dark horse Nicola Jeal, acclaimed weekend editor of The Times.

Other contenders include Ben Preston, current editor of the Radio Times but once a popular deputy and acting editor of The Times, Daniel Finkelstein, the paper’s executive editor who is suitably close to the Conservatives, and the BBC’s well-connected business editor Robert Peston.

Harding has left the paper in robust editorial good health (his coverage of the phone hacking scandal was thought to have displeased Rupert Murdoch in particular) but the new man or woman will have their work cut out trying to steer the paper into the digital future and making commercial sense of the paywall. And, of course, they will have to get on with Rupe.

The hours are long but the rewards are commensurate. Harding is reportedly leaving News Corp with a pay-off of £1.3 million — which may pale by comparison with Rebekah Brooks’s £11 million severance package but is not to be sniffed at.

US AMBASSADOR

There are persistent rumours that Vogue’s glamorous editor-in-chief Anna Wintour is to be the next US Ambassador to London, replacing outgoing diplomat Louis Susman, but it is no done deal. “We have no personnel announcements to make at this time. The President will make nominations as he deems appropriate,” the US state department told us.

It is a post coveted by a number of rival “top bundlers” including Matthew Barzun — Barack Obama’s campaign finance chairman — who raised more than $500,000 for the Democrats’ re-election campaign. But Barzun cannot claim to be BFF with Roger Federer, nor does he have Karl Lagerfeld and Bill Nighy on speed dial. Wintour, the role model for the magazine editor in The Devil Wears Prada, would certainly hold the swankiest parties and inject new life into the Ferrero Rocher set. When Obama promised us “the best is yet to come” in his acceptance speech, was he perhaps referring to Wintour?

And if Wintour gives up the plum editorship of Vogue after 20 years, expect more upheaval in the magazine world. Those tipped to take over from her include Lucy Yeomans, editor-in-chief of Net-a-Porter, who turned Harpers and Queen into a modern Harper’s Bazaar; Amy Astley, editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue and long-term protégée of Wintour, and Linda Wells, editor-in-chief of Allure. But don’t rule out another respected British export, Joanna Coles, editor-in-chief of US Cosmopolitan.

OPERA HOUSE CHIEF

Now that Tony Hall has defected from the Opera House to the BBC , he has left Covent Garden with a big hole to fill. The ROH has indicated to the Standard that a firm of headhunters will be formally instructed to manage the selection process, which can only be good news for one hotly tipped contender — Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger.

The last time the Trustees hired headhunters to find a new CEO they landed Tony Hall, very much the outside candidate. Hall, then head of BBC News, had no experience of running an arts organisation; nor did he show much interest in ballet — like Mr Rusbridger. But since his appointment in 2001 Hall has been credited single-handedly with turning the Opera House around.

The money is much better than you might think. Hall is the highest-paid chief executive of any charity in the UK and his emoluments for management of the Royal Opera House (including benefits in kind) exceeded £390,000 per annum last year. Rusbridger is a regular opera-goer and as a child he was a chorister at Guildford Cathedral Choir School before winning a musical exhibition to the fee-charging Cranleigh School in Surrey. He was until recently chairman of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and is author of a new book, Play it Again: Why Amateurs Should Attempt the Impossible, which is about learning, in the space of a year, to play Chopin’s Ballade No 1. Other candidates tipped include Clive Gillinson of Carnegie Hall; Michael Haefliger, who runs the Lucerne Festival, and Kathryn McDowell of the LSO. Who would replace Rusbridger at the Guardian? The smart money is on Kath Viner or Ian Katz. And there’s always James Harding.

ROYAL PR

Prince Charles’s top PR man Paddy Harverson quit his post last month in order to set up his own communications consultancy. The post is not big bucks by comparison with the other top jobs available but you do get to rub shoulders with royalty and become part of the Establishment.

This is an honour in itself and the salary (rumoured to be £130,000 a year when Harverson first took up the post in 2003) is pretty lavish for a royal servant. You can always go on to command a much bigger fee in the private sector once you have done your stint, as Harverson has proved.

Harverson — the man credited with reinventing the Prince’s public image — has now joined one of Google’s senior executives, DJ Collins. His deputy Patrick Harrison, in charge of media on the Prince’s successful tour of Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand, is expected to take over.

Harverson, who formed close relations with the young princes and was pictured in Lesotho ruffling Harry’s hair, will be a hard act to follow. Last year he was named “PR professional of the year” by PR Week and was credited with orchestrating the positive coverage of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s royal wedding.

His successor will have to carry on the challenging task of making the public feel involved with the royal family while simultaneously guarding everyone’s privacy and security — and they must like foreign travel, as there will be lots of royal tours.

The successor should have an easier time dealing with the post-Leveson press. A wild card could be Aurelia Stephenson (née Cecil), the only daughter of the 4th Baron Amherst of Hackney, who is currently spokeswoman for Earl Spencer. She can be relied on for her discretion as she is a one-time girlfriend of Prince Andrew. Andy Coulson, Max Clifford and Alastair Campbell need not apply.